This page features brief excerpts of stories published by the mainstream
media and, less frequently, blogs, alternative media, and even obviously
biased sources. The excerpts are taken directly from the websites cited in
each source note. Quotation marks are not used.
Source: National Journal
Jul 27, 2007
The first lame ducks, those extraneous politicians christened as such, waddled into American history nearly 100 years ago, courtesy of the New York Evening Post. They made their appearance at the White House, but in refuge, not residence. It was there that Republican members of Congress who hadn't survived the 1910 midterm elections assembled in a hallway that the Evening Post dubbed "Lame Duck Alley." The defeated lawmakers were hoping for a presidential appointment from William Howar
Source: Salt Lake Tribune
Jul 27, 2007
Each year the intention is the same: to arm Mormons with information so they can answer criticisms of their faith, doctrine and practices.
But the ninth annual conference of The Foundation for Apologetic Information & Research (FAIR), which begins Thursday in Sandy, is especially needed given recent high-profile anti-Mormon developments, the nonprofit organization's president, Scott Gordon, said.
Gordon, reached by phone in Redding, Calif., pointed to offe
Source: LAT editorial
Jul 27, 2007
When israel's education ministry announced that history textbooks for third-graders would now include a heretofore unmentionable truth -- that the creation of a homeland for Jews in 1948 resulted in the exile of 700,000 Palestinians -- it seemed an enlightened step.
"History is written by the victors," as Winston Churchill said, and for the last 59 years, Israeli elementary school textbooks have taught only the Jewish version of events: The outcome of the Arab-Israeli war
Source: Inside Higher Ed (Click on SOURCE for embedded links.)
Jul 27, 2007
“American success or failure in Iraq may well depend on whether the Iraqis like American soldiers or not.”
That’s not from a think tank primer prepared in 2003, but from a pamphlet prepared 60 years earlier and just published in book form by the University of Chicago Press. Instructions for American Serviceman in Iraq During World War II could be unusually successful for the press, at least as reprints of obscure government documents go. The press has shipped out 20,000 copies in th
Source: Jerusalem Post
Jul 27, 2007
The Palestine Post and later The Jerusalem Post has been around since 1932, reporting the history of the Jewish people and the State of Israel for 75 years.
The following is the first in a new feature titled 'History Revisited', where we will show you images of those magnificent front pages - which you will be able to read (including the small text by using the zoom option - the plus sign - icon in Acrobat Reader) - from 1932 onwards....
Source: Reuters
Jul 27, 2007
Sixty-two years ago they were bitter enemies -- one a Japanese pilot trained to crash his plane into U.S. ships on a suicide mission, the other two survivors of a ship sunk by one of the pilot's kamikaze comrades.
But on Friday the three now elderly men shook hands and blinked back tears during a meeting that the former U.S. servicemen said finally helped them come to terms with their traumatic past.
"You feel terrible towards the people who did this to you and as
Source: Secrecy News, written by Steven Aftergood, is published by the Federation of American Scientists
Jul 27, 2007
For the first time since it began debating the issue more than three
decades ago, Congress is now poised to adopt legislation that will
require -- not merely recommend -- public disclosure of the total
national intelligence budget.
"Not later than 30 days after the end of each fiscal year beginning
with fiscal year 2007, the Director of National Intelligence shall
disclose to the public the aggregate amount of funds appropriated by
Congress for the National Intelligence Program for suc
Source: AFP
Jul 27, 2007
An artificial big toe attached to the foot of an Egyptian mummy could be the world's oldest prosthetic body part, British researchers said Friday.
The fake toe, which is made of wood and leather and is currently on display at the Cairo Museum in Egypt, dates from between 1000 and 600 BC.
Researchers at Manchester University in north-west England hope to prove it was used to help someone who had lost their original big toe to walk.
If they do, it could mean
Source: AP
Jul 27, 2007
Former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev on Friday laid the blame for the current low in Russia's relations with the West squarely on Washington, accusing the United States of making major mistakes that had thrown the world into a period of "global disarray."
Russia has fallen out with the United States on a raft of issues, clouding relations and leading some commentators to draw parallels with the Cold War.
Gorbachev, who won the 1990 Nobel Peace Prize for his
Source: Telegraph
Jul 27, 2007
One of Britain's last surviving First World War veterans has died aged 107, leaving only five British survivors of the 1914-18 campaign.
William Young, a former trench-based radio operator, was the last known veteran of the Royal Flying Corps (RFC), the forerunner of the Royal Air Force.
William Young pictured during the First World War
He died in his sleep earlier this week in Perth, Western Australia, where he lived with his wife May and their son.
Source: Telegraph
Jul 27, 2007
The Pope's private secretary has given warning of the Islamisation of Europe and stressed the need for the continent's Christian roots not to be ignored, in comments released yesterday.
"Attempts to Islamise the West cannot be denied," Monsignor Georg Gaenswein was quoted as saying in an advance copy of the weekly Sueddeutsche Magazin to be published today.
"The danger for the identity of Europe that is connected with it should not be ignored out of a wro
Source: China Daily
Jul 26, 2007
Journalists ask questions and get answers. But answers to some questions are tough to come by as Yomiuri Shimbun's special project team found.
Why did Japan plunge into the quagmire of what the Japanese call the "Sino-Japanese War" and what actually was the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression?
Why did Japan wage war against the US despite lacking resources?
What caused the Japanese military to go on "kamikaze" attacks?
Source: AP
Jul 26, 2007
Researchers in northern Greece have uncovered two massive tusks of a prehistoric mastodon that roamed Europe more than 2 million years ago — tusks that could be the largest of their kind ever found.
The remains of the mastodon, which was similar to the woolly mammoth but had straighter tusks as well as different teeth and eating habits, were found in an area about 250 miles north of Athens where excavations have uncovered several prehistoric animals over the past decade.
Source: BBC
Jul 26, 2007
A hospital and schools were partly funded with the proceeds from the slave trade during what a historian describes as the Highland's "forgotten past".
Dr David Alston researched the region's links with slavery for a series of lectures in Inverness.
He found the city's old infirmary and academy, along with Fortrose Academy received money from the trade.
Dr Alston said during the 1700s and 1800s Highlanders sought their fortunes in the colonies.
Source: BBC
Jul 26, 2007
A rare Irish 9th century silver brooch has been donated to National Museums Northern Ireland.
The Ballyvolan brooch, described by experts as "exceptional", was found in the ruins of Ballyvolan Fort near Kilmartin in County Wicklow about 1900.
It had until recently been in an English private collection.
The brooch was accepted by the British government in lieu of inheritance tax, and allocated to the Art Fund.
Source: NYT
Jul 26, 2007
A year ago, Fidel Castro led thousands of Cuba’s communist party faithful in enthusiastic cheers to celebrate the guerrilla attacks on army barracks that sparked his revolution a half century before. It was the last time he was seen in public.
That night, after two long speeches, the gaunt 80-year-old leader suffered an acute infection and bleeding in his colon, from which he has yet to recover. Five days later, he handed over power to his brother and a small group of cabinet offici
Source: Rocky Mountain News
Jul 26, 2007
Ward Churchill's attorney is seeking a more sympathetic jury by taking the case of the fired University of Colorado professor to Denver District Court rather than to a federal judge.
Federal judges tend to defer to the personnel decisions of university governing boards, especially if the boards followed due process as set forth in their own operating procedures, legal experts say. But a local jury is less predictable.
"There's no way to know - some will, some won't (defe
Source: Chronicle of Higher Education (CHE)
Jul 25, 2007
A leading collection of gay and lesbian literature is at the center of a debate in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. The director of a library in the city’s Gay and Lesbian Community Center wants the collection moved to a nearby public library. Fort Lauderdale’s mayor, Jim Naugle, fought the plan, saying the collection contains pornography and should not be housed in a city-owned building, according to a report this week in the South Florida Sun-Sentinel. But city commissioners overruled the mayor and appro
Source: WaPo
Jul 25, 2007
Wallace Terry was a journalist back when journalism was still a respected profession. He died in 2003, after a distinguished career reporting and writing for The Washington Post and Time magazine.
It is tempting to refer to Terry as a "pioneering" journalist because he entered the business when few black or other non-white journalists did much more than fetch copy or coffee at big news outfits. But Terry survived (and thrived) in no small part because others like him had g
Source: AP
Jul 25, 2007
Now in their 70s and 80s, children of the victims of Josef Stalin's political repressions remembered one of the darkest pages of Russia's history at a ceremony Wednesday in central Moscow.
Several hundred people laid flowers and lit candles to honor the victims of the Great Purge of 1937, when millions were labeled "enemies of the state" and executed without trial or sent to labor camps.
The 70th anniversary comes as the Kremlin, focused on restoring Russians'
